Is there a test that determines the severity of an allergy? (or when to worry about airborne food...

[Nosy]

When DS was 4 we noticed he coughed when he had several different tree nuts.  He has asthma so we kept them out of his diet.  A few months ago (he's now 7), he accidentally had pecan, and his lip and face swelled and complained that his throat felt itchy.  It was relieved with Benadryl.  We have an Epipen that our doctor prescribed just in case but we have never had any official allergy test. 

He is homeschooled so we haven't had to address school issues before but he is going to be going to a co-op next fall twice a week, so I'm wondering whether I need to be worried about reactions to things people have touched that have nut residue on them or airborne exposure to nuts.  He hasn't had this issue before, but I know nut allergies can escalate.  What test would best assess his nut allergy? 

[scsigrl]

There is no test that will tell you "how" bad an allergy is or how reactions will progress.  

Any GOOD allergist will tell you that an oral challenge is the BEST way to "test" which is essentially what happened with your DS (and I am so sorry that it happened like that :(  How scary!  Glad you have dpi pens, you may want to go over your FAAP with your Dr.  A reaction like you describe would be an case to Epi for us!)

Do you know these people in the co-op?  I would not leave my FA kid with anyone who wasn't capable of assessing my kid for a reaction and who was dpi trained.  Can you teach the co-op parents these things?

[Nosy]

Thanks, there would be 3 or 4 teachers I'd have to educate, so probably do-able.

It's depressing that there's no way of knowing whether swelling face from ingestion will develop into a reaction from contact or breathing it in nearby until it happens.